Is The Gray Flannel Guy Finally Fading?
At 1871 we talk a great deal about breaking down boundaries and coloring
outside the lines; taking the often bumpy and uncertain roads less traveled;
and about the need from time to time for entrepreneurs and others to act first and
then, if necessary, to ask for forgiveness instead of waiting for permission
and letting important opportunities to make a statement or help bring about
critical changes pass them by. Rest assured, this isn’t going to be another
rant about Uber or Airbnb.
There isn’t a single rule book for these kinds of real time judgment
calls and – as often as not – there isn’t a way to check with others (apart
from the teammates at your side) even if you were so inclined. In the field and
on the front line, you don’t always get a second chance to make a first
impression. You’ve got to go with your gut and with what feels right in the
moment and, from a management standpoint, you just have to hope that your people
make the right decisions most of the time. It’s especially exciting when your team
hits it totally out of the park.
Apart from a lot of talk, we try every day to actually model the kinds of
behaviors we expect of our member companies and we also try to put our words
into action by participating in community activities like the recent Serve-A-Thon
day of service which was held with Chicago Cares. These are important practical
and meaningful commitments which we much prefer to editorials, speeches or posturing
polemics from our politicians. We just need to get going and do the things that
can make an actual difference.
For Chicago Cares, we had a great team of our folks spend the day at the
Earle Stem Academy and – as with all giving back – it’s never exactly clear who
gets the most out of the process – the donors or the
donees, but for our team, it was a great learning experience as well as a lot
of fun.
In these kinds of programs, the size of the gesture doesn’t really matter
as much as the commitment of the time and the attitude of the participants. Sincerity
means everything. Even the seemingly
modest gestures like some fresh paint on a school’s walls can say a lot to our teachers
and to the kids who need to know that we care about them and about cleaning up
and improving the places where they spend a significant part of their lives. And it’s abundantly clear that actions like
these will always trump even well-intentioned advice – especially the words of
wisdom from the sages sitting comfortably on the sidelines. If you want to make
a difference, you just have to get out there and do it – not talk about it.
It’s even more exciting when the circumstances conspire to deliver a
double bottom line. We’ve been talking about “unconscious bias” a bunch at 1871
and it’s sometimes hard for people to get a concrete handle in their own
day-to-day lives on what that idea actually means. It’s a little too tempting
to lump this in with the rest of the lectures on political correctness which we
hear all too often from the folks who are going to fix our futures for us. So
when the world unwittingly (or unconsciously) gives you a lemon, it’s a great
chance to make something much more of it.
When our team arrived, they were given a stencil as a guide to paint on
the staircase wall. I’ve pasted it below. Lots of gray guys. Not exactly
STEM-ish or STE(Art)M-ish.
And certainly not the
story that any self-respecting team of creatives from 1871 would be interested
in telling.
So they hunkered down
and got right to work because at 1871 work is what we are all about.
And when the dust
settled, the picture was MUCH different and a LOT brighter. And something we
can all be proud of.
Thanks to the whole team
for making it happen and for helping to make a real difference.
